Ska & Reggae Fest Green Plan 2017

We like to dance hard and tread lightly, and we are proud of our continually-improving efforts to leave as little an environmental footprint as possible.

Last year’s festival – 5 days and over 10,000 attendees— generated a grand total of six bags of garbage that went to the landfill, and pretty much all of that was made up of materials brought on site. That may not be zero waste, but its pretty close!

This year we’re aiming for an even better record, and here’s how we are going to do it:

It Starts with a Conversation…

The best way to reduce waste is to stop it coming on site in the first place. We talk with all of our vendors and service providers to make sure that everything that they sell and consume on site can be sustainably disposed of. That means no Styrofoam and no unnecessary packaging!

Full-Stream Recycling and Composting

We don’t just recycle pop and beer cans, we take care of everything. Working with the fine people over at ReFuse Recycling we provide receptacles for every kind of waste, including compostable (all organic material, even fats and meat), soft plastics, Styrofoam, and foil lined plastics.

Free Water!

2011 marked the Ska Fest debut of the Water Fillz station, a mobile water filtration station generously donated by UVic Sustainability Department. With the water station on site we cut down the amount of plastic water bottles collected from over 2,000 to just about zero! So this year remember to bring a reusable water bottle… or you can of course buy one of our snazzy little items here!

Sustainable Transport

We have the good fortune to be located right in the heart of downtown, where transit and cycling routes are abundant and parking can be agony. That means that the majority of Ska Festers leave their cars at home, and park their bikes in our many lock ups.

The Green Team

Last but definitely not least, we keep our environmental impact to a minimum with the help of a small army of exceptionally awesome volunteers. These guys are what it really all comes down to. They are responsible for explaining to festival-goers what goes where, as well as continually sorting the waste throughout the festival to make sure that absolutely everything that can be recycled and salvaged is.